Sudbury's CEMI signs mining deal with university in Peru

The Sudbury-based Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation has signed an agreement with university in Peru to develop and promote mine innovation.

Moises Ronald Vázquez Caicedo Ayras, president at the Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú (UNCP), and Douglas Morrison, president and CEO of the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), said in a release they have signed a memorandum of understanding.

The deal is “a first step in developing a partnership to advance mining innovation programs that include technology and knowledge transfer, demonstration projects, skills development for students, faculty and professionals.

“This partnership will offer tremendous opportunities for increased outreach and impact for the regions served by Universidad Nacional del Centro del Peru.”

CEMI said it is focused on step-change innovation and commercialization of technical developments in mine safety, productivity and environmental performance, while UNCP is focused on development of research capacity in mining, mineral processing and exploration geophysics.

“This means there is complementary and mutually beneficial impact to the core constituencies of both organizations,” they said in the release.

Together, the organizations said they will better promote the advancement and competitiveness of mutually beneficial outputs coming from the technology being developed by Canadian small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and application of those technologies to water management, sustainable environment, mining and safety.

“The technical capabilities in Canada and mining related opportunities in Peru will create more business opportunities in both countries, expanding Peru’s capacity for research and innovation and enhancing its reputation and capacity as one of the major mining jurisdictions around the world,” the two groups said.

“This will be accomplished through effective collaboration between the two organizations and will form the initial core of a mutually cooperative network that will have positive impact on the globally important industry that is economically very important in both countries.”

Officials said they believe that combining the research strength of UNCP, directed by Dra. Delia Gamarra Gamarra, with CEMI’s technical and commercial expertise in innovation, they will be able to mobilize the internal resources of both organizations to achieve progressive outcomes in the four strategic themes and build a strong partnership. The Core Foundation is pleased to have been able to bring the two organizations together for the future benefit of the mining industry in Peru and in Canada.

“We believe that managed and purposeful collaboration between our two organizations is the best way to maximize and accelerate the technical changes that the global mining industry must make to become ‘fit for purpose’ in delivering the mineral products for the global industrial economy while meeting the social and environmental demands of a globally sustainable society.”

CEMI is a Canadian mining innovation and commercialization service provider based at Laurentian University. It is a not-for-profit organization with a vision to be the leading source for accelerating the commercialization of innovation for the Canadian and global mining industry. CEMI’s mission is to advance the commercialization of innovations for the mining industry through innovation scouting; challenge Identification; challenge solution matching and commercialization services.

UNCP is a distinguished university in Huancayo, Junin region, Peru. Its vision is to be a university with identity, a national reference in internationalized research and professional training in mining, and with a mission of integral training of people with human and scientific competences to develop research, innovate technologies, preserve, transfer knowledge and culture with social responsibility.